Átta
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''Átta'' () is the eighth studio album by Icelandic
post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...
band
Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...
, released through Von Dur and
BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...
on 16 June 2023. It is their first studio album in 10 years, following '' Kveikur'' (2013), and is their first since 2012's '' Valtari'' to feature keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson, who rejoined the band in 2022. The seven-minute lead single "Blóðberg" was released on 12 June 2023 alongside its music video, directed by Johan Renck. Physical editions of the album were released on 1 September 2023. The band embarked on a tour from June to August 2023 backed by a 41-piece orchestra, during which they debuted songs from the album.


Background and recording

The band announced in February 2022 that they were working on their eighth studio album after keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson rejoined the band. Jónsi explained that when Sveinsson rejoined the band, Sveinsson came to visit him in
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, where they jammed and wrote together in Jónsi's basement. After he left, the
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happened, and it took two years before Sveinsson met up with Jónsi in Los Angeles again, after which point
Georg Hólm Georg "Goggi" Hólm (; born 6 April 1976) is the bassist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is the most prominent member of Sigur Rós in the English press, as he does significantly more press than the other members due to him being th ...
joined them "and it became more of an album". All three then travelled to
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
in
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, where they recorded with the London Contemporary Orchestra, led by conductor Robert Ames. The band also recorded at their Sundlaugin studio in Iceland and multiple studios in the US. Jónsi said the band's intention with the music was "to have minimal drums and for the music to be really sparse, floaty and beautiful". They produced the album alongside Paul Corley. The album was also inspired by a "desire for a feeling of unity when overwhelmed by the tumultuous circumstances", with Hólm stating that the album "feels like a balming and unifying bond", calling it "more introverted than before. It's very expansive with this sound of strings, but it looks within more than outside".


Cover art

The album's artwork, depicting a rainbow in flames, was designed by the Icelandic artist Rúrí. Jónsi said of it, "Trans and queer and gay rights have been trampled on so much recently. It's scary to see. Around the world also, it feels like we're going backwards. We try to stay out of politics, just to make the music as neutral as possible, but we were talking about the state of the world we live in now:
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
and doomscrolling."


Critical reception

''Átta'' received a score of 84 out of 100 on review aggregator
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
based on twelve critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Robin Murray of '' Clash'' stated that ''Átta'' "pick up where igur Rósleft off, producing works foutstanding beauty – slow of pace, yet rich in feeling; deftly experimental yet also daringly melodic" and that it "presents something of an oasis of calm" with tracks "allowed to stretch out and recede". Murray called the final track, "8", "remarkable" with its "sense of subtle daring seem ngto epitomise both the album as a whole and the band themselves". Andrew Trendell of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' called it "a welcome comeback" and "entirely at odds with the violent, industrial and anti-commercial 2013 predecessor '' Kveikur''". He concluded that it is "at least the band's best album since 2005's monolithic '' Takk'' made them a household name, and at most a record that gives Sigur Rós plenty more reason to exist in adding some pure and natural soul to this cold and unfeeling world". ''
MusicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...
''s John Murphy felt that ''Átta'' "ebbs and flows magnificently" and "still very much sounds like a Sigur Rós album". He also remarked that "the absence of Dýrason's drums is noticeable" and that it is ultimately "an album which demands to be listened to in its entirety". Devon Chodzin of '' Paste'' concurred that the album "requir sa continuous listen back-to-front". He added, "while the music is, as one might expect, beautiful, there are hints of torment and desolation that are hard to ignore" and found that the presence of an orchestra "helps their sound grow even more massive". Ian Cohen of ''
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'' wrote that ''Átta'' "proves that Sigur Rós are physically capable of making angry music—but they aim for the softer, more poignant variants: despair, depression, and dejection" and throughout, the band "make the distinction between ambient and classical for people who might not otherwise listen to either of these forms. This is minimal music often performed maximally". Phil Mongredien of ''
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'' wrote that with strings "very much foregrounded, he songstend towards slowly unfurling ambient washes of sound" and while "the effect is undeniably beautiful", Mongredien argued "there's a disappointing homogeneity" that makes the album feel "cloying" and "surprisingly unengaging". Writing for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, Marcy Donelson concluded that "while not the project's most mind-bending or boundary-pushing album, it's their most stunningly gorgeous, and a successful, timely countermeasure to the symbolic cover art depicting a rainbow in flames."


Track listing


Personnel

Sigur Rós * Jón Birgisson – vocals, guitar, string arrangement, production,
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
(all tracks); synthesizer (tracks 1, 4–7, 10) *
Georg Hólm Georg "Goggi" Hólm (; born 6 April 1976) is the bassist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is the most prominent member of Sigur Rós in the English press, as he does significantly more press than the other members due to him being th ...
– bass guitar, string arrangement, production, engineering (all tracks); synthesizer (1) * Kjartan Sveinsson – piano, string arrangement, production, engineering (all tracks); synthesizer (1, 3–5, 10),
harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...
(6);
hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...
,
vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...
(7) Additional musicians * London Contemporary Orchestra – orchestra (1–8, 10) * Robert Ames – orchestra conductor (1–8, 10) * Ólafur Ólafsson – percussion (1, 7, 9, 10) * Ingi Erlendsson – trombone, tuba (4, 10) * Helgi Jónsson – trombone (4, 10) * Eirikur Ólafsson – trumpet (4, 10) * Snorri Sigurðarson – trumpet (4, 10) * María Sigfúsdóttir – violin (4, 10) Technical * Paul Corley – production, engineering *
Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...
mastering * Birgir Jón Birgisson – engineering * Chris Bolster – engineering * Farrokh Shroff – engineering * Freddie Light – engineering * Ivan Handwerk – engineering * Nate Haessly – engineering * PJ Munley – engineering * Zack Zajdel – engineering


Charts


Release history


Notes


References

{{Sigur Rós 2023 albums Albums produced by Paul Corley BMG Rights Management albums Sigur Rós albums